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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AT GIBRALTAR, by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY Poet's Biography First Line: England, I stand on thy imperial ground Last Line: Peace to the world, from ports without a gun! Subject(s): Gibraltar; Great Britain - Commonwealth & Colonies; Peace; British Empire; England - Empire | |||
I. ENGLAND, I stand on thy imperial ground Not all a stranger; as thy bugles blow, I feel within my blood old battles flow, -- The blood whose ancient founts are in thee found Still surging dark against the Christian bound While Islam presses; well its peoples know Thy heights that watch them wandering below: I think how Lucknow heard their gathering sound. I turn and meet the cruel, turbaned face. England! 't is sweet to be so much thy son! I feel the conqueror in my blood and race; Last night Trafalgar awed me, and to-day Gibraltar wakened; hark, thy evening gun Startles the desert over Africa. II. Thou art the rock of empire set mid-seas Between the East and West, that God has built; Advance thy Roman borders where thou wilt, While run thy armies true with his decrees; Law, justice, liberty, -- great gifts are these. Watch that they spread where English blood is split, Lest, mixed and sullied with his country's guilt The soldier's life-stream flow, and Heaven dis- please! Two swords there are: one naked, apt to smite, Thy blade of war; and, battle-storied, one Rejoices in the sheath, and hides from light. American I am; would wars were done! Now westward, look, my country bids good night, -- Peace to the world, from ports without a gun! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COLONISATION IN REVERSE by SIMONE LOUISE BENNETT NIGHTSONG: CITY by DENNIS BRUTUS NIGHT RAIN by JOHN PEPPER CLARK RECESSIONAL by RUDYARD KIPLING VITAI LAMPADA by HENRY JOHN NEWBOLT ONE NIGHT AT VICTORIA BEACH by GABRIEL OKARA BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY COMRADES by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 1 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY |
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